By Viviana Morales

Many Granada Hills Charter (GHC) students began the school year with no water. On Tuesday August 5, during some repair work at a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LA DWP) pump station, a valve broke. This valve is attached to a 10-million gallon tank that provides water to thousands of families and businesses within the Granada Hills and Porter Ranch areas. The following day, the LADWP issued a mandatory boil-water advisory for the areas affected.

This advisory required families to boil their water before usage, and highly recommended them to drink only bottled water. With the school year starting just four days later, students within the 9,200 houses affected began to struggle to find places to fill their water bottles and showers for the upcoming school year.

“I had to go to my grandma’s house just to shower,” freshman Isabella Solis said. 

Beginning August 10, households began receiving their water once again. As the following week arrived, families were able to turn on their faucets and have running water, allowing many students to return back home. But although they returned, the boil advisory was still in effect. 

“We are very concerned that if people continue to use the water that is coming out of their faucets today, it is going to delay the ability of the [LADWP] to get the link back and restored, and for your use of water to be back to normal, so that you don’t have to boil water, so that you don’t have to conserve,” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said at a news conference that Saturday afternoon. 

Unfortunately, with school just beginning, students lost focus on the water and began focusing more on their friends and schoolwork. 

“I was just so focused on school, I just used the water when it came back on,” senior Stella Kim said. 

The GHC campus was not within the affected boundaries, and students were able to enter campus on the first day with water ready on hand. On August 7, students and families were notified with the preparations that the school was making for that Friday. 

Seventeen thousand gallons of water were available for students following the three days of school, along with bottled water in case of any emergencies. 

Ultimately, the boil advisory ended for many on August 11, with the declaration of the water finally being safe to drink on August 12.